Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

Not looking good for Ossian at the moment:

4 seats.

Geraldine Collins Fri 22 Mar 2002 at 00:11

"A BILL which abolishes the need for a financial deposit to be lodged by candidates in elections was agreed in the Dail yesterday. The need for the legislation arose from a High Court case which held that paying a deposit to stand for election was repugnant to the Constitution. Until now candidates required a deposit of £300 to stand in a general election and £1,000 (pounds) in a European election. Deposits have been part of the electoral law since 1923 and environment minister Noel Dempsey pointed out they were considered a necessary restraint to protect the integrity of the electoral system from non-serious candidates. The minister pointed out the Irish system followed the British practice, aimed at reducing the number of "freak or propaganda" candidates "as they were then referred to". Under the new Bill candidates not affiliated to political parties will have to have signatures from at least 30 supporters to be accepted."

Anyone who can't come up with 30 signatures, still has to deposit €500. But Ossian is covered by his membership of the Green Party. Back in 1923 the deposit was £100, a lot of money then.

Thanks for the update.

Perhaps Ossien Smyth will now get a job with the DRS management team 🤔

I suppose that election result was "in scope" with how public perceived their genius policies.

Interesting that they still refer to the number of containers returned rather than recycled.

Statement says "can be recycled". Doesn't say that they are.

Sorry, I'm not getting what your point is. So many returns..how many used to be returned via our recycling bins at home? How many are actually recycled? As for the usual price swapping in Tesco V Aldi; so what? Some biscuits were reduced this week too but ginger ale went up in Tesco and Dunnes. What are you trying to plug?

I agree that the GP minister introducing it meant it was more associated with them.

However I'm not sure that the DRS issue was a deciding one in how people voted.

If it was voters were very quiet about it.

Perhaps a small part of a cumulative anti GP feeling but not major.

During the campaign the big issues were taxes, cost of living, housing, immigration etc.

The general feeling that the GP is anti rural hurt them badly outside Dublin.

Where is all the plastic that gets returned, recycled?
In Ireland?
What is it recycled into?

There are a number of PET recycling plants in Ireland. Shabra in Monaghan are the biggest one. Their combined capacity is not enough for what's produced here though, currently anyway.

Its used, with additional plasticiser to make up for it not being a perfectly recyclable material (like glass and most metals are), to make new PET bottles - the slightly green tinged Coke ones are made using PET pellets from recycled bottles.

I followed the election campaign assiduously.

TV and radio coverage, newspaper and magazine articles, online discussions and podcasts.

Not a negative word about DRS from politicians, electorate or commentators.

Election campaigns are all about promises and self promotion. Luckily the reasons for the Greens getting the boot arent restricted to the contents of election campaigns no matter how much you start your usual carry on of trying to compartmentalise. People have been sick of the Greens and their policies for a long time. Trying to say Re-Turn isnt part of that is ludicrous.

This thread is probably the only place it was mentioned as an issue.

As I pointed out in the other post I'm not saying it didn't have any effect just that it was minor.

Issues that are likely to change voting preferences for a lot of the electorate tend to get noticed.

Nobody I spoke to mentioned it as an election issue. I'm not just saying that to try to take the shine off your experience.

Please believe me, I'm not trying to tie anyone up in knots, just commenting on the topic.

We seem to be agreed that DRS was not a major election issue but played a lesser role in losing votes for the GP.

The size of that role is really the question.

We have no proof one way or the other, just the election results and our respective opinions.

I'm not sure that it matters much anyway because the GP have taken a big hit and DRS is still there.

Ok so where does the excess plastic that can’t be recycled in Ireland go?
How much energy does it take to recycle the bit that we do?
Where do we get the plasticiser?